Credit card regulatory bodies are coming up with several new rules and policies for the consumers which would be more user-friendly for them. Most credit card users face inconvenience when they fail to get regular credit cards due to failure or delay in debt payment. This immensely affects credit scores/ratings. This is the reason why some banks came up with special credit cards for those having poor credit ratings. These cards are more like "prepaid credit cards". Here you get opportunity to fill up your own account when you have money available with you and use it in time of necessity. Like these there are several self help options which have got introduced. Some important ones are highlighted below:
1) Restriction is put up for credit card companies that they suddenly cannot raise the interest rate on current balances unless a user fails his payment to them.
2) The bill payment duration has become minimum 21 days. This is compulsory for every credit card company to provide a user for making the bill payment.
3) The credit card companies can no longer charge "double cycle billing" interest to you even in worst situation like you make full balance payment to nil one month and fail completely to pay anything the next month.
Hope these changes would be beneficial to users like us. Being a finance adviser i think one change should have come in the type of marketing that the companies do while selling credit cards to the users. They should disclose all factors, rules and regulations clearly.
According to Federal Trade Commission (FTC), around 50,000 Americans get robbed every year by the Identity thieves. It recorded 380103 total fraud complaints in the year 2002, amongst which 161819 cases were of identity theft, which accounts to almost 43% of the total complaint. Last year gave a figure of 70,000 people getting robbed for taking internet help and Law Enforcement anticipates a growth of 25%-35% this year. The above figures and percentages prove that Identity Theft has become a rapidly growing crime in US nowadays.
All a criminal would need to perform this crime is your name, address, Social Security Number (SSN), driver’s license number and even mother’s maiden name sometimes. All these information reach out to the criminals without you even knowing what is happening. I definitely do not want my readers to fall into such trap in life. Hence before it is too late follow my article on this serious matter and save yourself from becoming a victim.
1) The prime target of the criminals is to get the social security number which gives access to credit reporting and bank accounts. Hence protect it with strong hands.
2) Avoid carrying necessary documents with you unless it is actually required.
3) Add name to the “Do not disturb” list so that market surveys fail to trace your name and other details.
4) Never print the Social Security Number on the cheque.
5) To check for fraud, order social security earnings and benefits statement at least once a year.
6) Verify all the credit card statement charges manually by yourself before paying them.
7) Providing personal information over phone should always be avoided.
8) Avoid saving credit card shopping profile on the net.
9) Password must be made unique and never use SSN as your password for anything.
10) Log out the bank account properly before closing the window.
11) Pin number should never be written down on the ATM card.
12) Try using a credit card for online purchase instead of a debit card.
13) Be sure not to use your Social security number as your Employee identification number.
14) Never share your driver’s license number with anyone or anywhere online.
15) Your cell phone number should be kept secret as much as possible and never ever use it as a password always.
16) Mother’s maiden name also shouldn’t be used as a password.
17) Always get your cell phone’s bluetooth security checked from a reliable priority dealer.
18) Shred out important papers which are no more required before throwing them out.
19) Always use password protected system and documents.
20) Computer should be checked properly and necessary documents and details should be cleaned before discarding it forever.
This article will help my reader to get rid of online spying and also useful steps are there to keep all the personal information safe and secure. My main motto behind all the hard work was to minimize and eliminate the risk for my readers of getting their sensitive information stolen.
Being a finance adviser and a professional whose aim is to help financially challenged people, I have done lot of research and studies on whether it is actually possible to apply for home loan with a bad credit score and get approval for it. The answer I found is "Yes, It is certainly possible". Having a bad credit score does not mean one cannot obtain Mobile Home Loan. There are several options open to solve our purpose as bad credit score is not the end of life we all should remember. Yes, it is true that getting loan with bad credit would not be a cake walk but on other hand it should also not stop you from getting approval. Several mortgage lenders are there who tries out every possible way for you to get your credit score in shape. Plans are finalized according to affordability of the borrower even if there is a bankruptcy or foreclosure report in past.
Several bad credit mobile loan options are there, like:
i) Sub-Prime Mortgage Home Loans
ii) Stated Income Mortgages
iii) No Money down Home Loans
iv) Jumbo Loans
v) Adjustable Rate Mortgages
Once this is done we have to take certain crucial and important step without making any mistakes as this will decide our eligibility for the loan approval.
1) Know Your True Credit Score- this is always necessary as all the credit score reports are not 100% correct. Hence follow these steps to correct and rectify the same if any mistake is noticed.
* Get a copy of your credit report today.
* Verify the items listed on your credit report manually.
* Make effort to repair any errors on your credit report and remove them urgently.
* Monitor your credit regularly with strong hand.
2) Check Your Options- here few considerations are required to shape up the bad credit score.
* Pay off as much debt as you possible.
* Pay your bills on time every month.
* Do not apply for too much credit at a time.
3) Prepare yourself with the Facts- before you finally apply for the decided loan
* Get comparative market home loan quotes from as many lenders as possible.
* Low mortgage rates should be compared from top lenders.
Always remember to give written information about any adverse reason of your bad credit score for situations like, illness, temporary job suspension, marital problems or other temporary setbacks. This might help you in getting some considerations.
Are you a student of university or doing any other crash course? If yes then all the best for your future. Now by future i am not meaning a good career only, i am also hoping you are taking care
of your money as well. If this answer is no then stop here and take a deep breath because now you need to learn to take care of your financial condition as well. this is a very crucial time when we need to understand our responsibilities and this is the reason why universities also teaches us about money management. Read the points given below which i have written after lot of study and research specially for students and i am sure you will find out your suitable way of saving money.
i) Do not make any decisions based on incentives - never do this mistake of living based on your incentive and freebies. It make things difficult and harder and not a smart money saving tip at all, instead research out some best overdraft deals to survive.
ii) Budget and stick to it - make plans and budget today according to your income and total expenditure obviously keeping some as savings and promise yourself to stick to it no matter what happens.
iii) Use your student loan wisely - use your instalment of loan wisely and dont blow up cash quickly in excitement of being at university. Trust me it is never a fun having no money. So take time as much as you need to think and then spend.
iv) Protect yourself - learn to take your own responsibility. Do not ask your friend to use your ATM card and PIN number to withdraw cash for you, dispose all your financial documents in proper place, invest in a shredder for better security. Living in shared accommodation leaves a high chance for identity theft, hence give your correspondence address as your parent's address.
v) Buy insurance - not many students would like to follow but trust me theft do happen on campus, so do it for your own benefit. Companies are there who provide great student insurance rates as a university welcome pack. So take full advantage of it.
I know you have already made your choice of saving money as per your suitability from the above given points. So what are you waiting for? start doing it from now
Thinking to start with money management? Hold on for a while and gather useful information from this post which you will need at every step you take and which will also guide you to move ahead in life with successful money-management. Starting from retirement to investing, tax to credit cards or financial freedom to money management, one common thing is to have"control over our money".
The best time to start money management is when we are young professionals. This period gives you money, options to spend the same and options to save as well. Young working demographic people need guidance the most. So, let me give you some tips on it.
i) Eat out less - eating outside is more expensive than cooking.
ii) Set a budget - fix a budget, plug as many leaks as possible and boost your emergency fund today.
iii) Assess your fire ability - recession time so anybody can be fired at any time, hence if you are expert in anything and that expertise is valued, then let those people know specially about this who make the firing decision.
iv) Polish up your resume - always keep an updated resume irrespective of good or bad time and whether you are looking for a job or not. It is also a good idea to accomplish your achievement.
v) Keep good network with people in your industry - reference from coworkers does half the battle. So keep a good network with useful and helpful people.
vi) Avoid signing contracts - do not sign any contracts for expensive products in this kind of uncertain future.
vii) Avoid loans - try to control your wishes so that you do not have that urgency to take loan and fulfil ypur wish.
Explaining some more money saving tips usefull for all readers of any age:
i) Income and expenditure - start thinking big and wide. Untill you have the appetite you cannot think of having more food. So dream big and want more, there is nothing harm in it. Everyone wants to get rich, so explore all possible ways where you live to earn some extra money. Start something small today and you will grow big tomorrow. And on the other hand understand and prioritise your necessities and avoid unnecessary expenditures. Expensive products are not always good, do some bargaining which can save little amount for you. Afterall its your hard earned money.
ii) Investment and Tax Saving - invest your money wisely after checking out all possible opportunities keeping in mind where ever you invest, it should have maximum possibility for growth so that it hepls you in long run. At the same time do some study and research related to your living style and go for some tax saving plan as well. Insurance for example is a very good idea to save tax.
iii) Save money in two bank accounts atlest - keep all your savings in bank no.2 and do not touch it at all and rest amount for expenditure in bank no.1. Now once you make a good amount of savings try out all possible ways to invest them taking calculated risk to increase your profit.
So, I would like to dedicate this post to all my readers and followers as i have done a lot of study and research work in writing this post. I also consulted every possible ways so that people get full assistance from here and can also put their head in understanding their income and expense, make plans to invest and save good amount of money by making it sure they get full tax benefit also. It is always said that "Spending money is easy but earning is difficult, and its even more difficult to save it".
Do we know what Credit score actually means?
It is basically a numerical and statistical analysis done on a person’s credit report to value the creditworthiness of that person.
Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) was the first company to develop software from which the most credit bureau scores are used in US today. These scores are provided to the lenders by the credit reporting agencies as data which gets used to provide the best guide for future risk. It normally says that the higher the credit score, the lower the risk, but at the end the lenders take the total decision as they use their own strategies and consider different levels of risk and factors to determine the actual rate of interest for a particular product.
Below is a diagrammatic explanation given on FICO break outs and ratings for Credit Score. This is a famous model used to decide creditworthiness of a person.
Coming up next some depending factors for Credit Score Rating:-
1) Payment history – about 35% of a FICO score – Avoid late payment and bankruptcies as its most important factor to keep a good record.
2) Outstanding debt– about 30% of a FICO score – It depends on how much you owe on all your accounts. The more you owe compared to your credit limit, the lower your score will be.
3) Length of your credit history – about 15% of a FICO score – It is the period of time one continue with credit. The longer had established credit, the better it is for your overall credit score.
4) New credit – about 10% of a FICO score – Opening new credit accounts will definitely rate negative score for short time.
5) Other factors – about 10% of a FICO score – Having a mix of credit types on your score report can add on positive points slightly.
So by now I am sure you have had enough idea on what credit score is, how it works and its depending factors. Not necessarily that the score which is given to you depending upon all above factors are always correct. So if you see errors in your credit score report, immediately use these helpline numbers to report it to the credit bureau.
The three major bureaus in U.S.
Equifax (1-800-685-1111),
Trans Union (1-800-916-8800) and
Experian (1-888-397-3742) .
All have procedures for correcting information promptly.
